The Nines, an elite group of
vampires, was established to stand as protection for their race. Fractured by
centuries of betrayal and loss, the group is now little more than myth, its
remaining members scarred and shattered.

Taris, the oldest living vampire,
is no stranger to loss and heartbreak. He is all that holds the Nines together
as they struggle to save themselves from total extinction.

Enter the beautiful and brilliant
Dr. Sarah Bridgeman, whose medical research has resulted in a breakthrough for
both humans and vampires. Her work may be the salvation this weary band of
guardians has been looking for.

Taris needs to reach Sarah and
enlist her help—before those aligned against him can act. Can a vampire king
convince a stunning young scientist to save a species that isn’t even supposed
to exist?

For now, only one thing is
certain: no science can explain the explosive chemistry between them.

Chaos
and Moonlight is the first installment in the Order of the Nines series, and is
A. D. Marrow’s debut novel.

"It was
several minutes before Sarah realized she wasn’t dreaming. The tall guy in her
room, the creepy guy on the stairs, all of it had been real. After about five
miles of telling herself to wake up, then looking at the tall guy who was
driving, then pinching herself, then telling herself to wake up again, then
looking at the tall guy some more, reality and the promise of a full-fledged
panic attack set in.

“I swear, if you let me go, I won’t tell
anyone, okay?” Sarah finally found her voice. She had a moment where she
thought that maybe this was a dream again, judging by the way the driver of the
car looked. He was dark and mysterious, chiseled from head to toe—she should
know, she all but crawled into him when they were running away from that other
guy. She couldn’t make out much in the dark of the truck’s cab, but even in the
faint light of the street lamps, something about this guy made her feel
different. Maybe it was his voice—that deep, gravelly, slightly British voice.
Maybe it was the smell that came off him, that man-mixed-with-leather-and-aftershave
smell.

“Who are you?” Her damned voice box
rebelled against her and her question came out in a whisper.

He was focused on the road, his eyes never
leaving it as he maneuvered the giant diesel truck in and out of the one a.m.
traffic. “I’ll explain everything when we get to where we are going. In the
meantime, just sit back and try to relax, okay?”

“Relax? Okay, yeah. I was taken out of my
bed in the middle of the night by some guy I don’t even know, and then I was
chased up the stairwell by a Sherman tank of a drag queen, and you tell me to
relax? Yeah right, pal! Listen, seriously, whatever ransom you’re asking for, I
can pay it. Just bring me to an ATM, and you can have whatever you want, okay?
Just let me go.”

“It’s not that simple, Dr. Bridgeman.”

“The hell it’s not. Look, just let me out,
and anything you want, it’s yours. Cross my heart, I won’t tell a soul you took
me.” She made a little crisscross motion over her heart.

“Like I said, Dr. Bridgeman, it’s not that
simple. I don’t need your money. I need you to do a job for me. That Sherman
tank drag queen apparently wants you to do the same job. I think, circumstances
being what they are, you might want to consider working for me.”

“Work, my ass.” Sarah mumbled to herself.
“Who the hell are you, anyway? And what job could I possibly do for you? I’m a
medical researcher, you dickhead.”

He didn’t bother looking at her. He took in
a deep breath and let out a long sigh.

“My name is Taris. I’m an
eight-hundred-year-old vampire, and I need you to use your medical research to
help me stop the slow yet brutal extinction of a race of people who really do
exist but are made into horror movie villains and romance novel heroes.”

When he was met
with silence, he glanced over to see her passed out cold in the seat.

“I knew it wouldn’t work.”

Guest Characterpost:

Hi everyone out
there in
reader land! My name is
A.D. MarrowandI amthe author ofChaos and Moonlight, thefirst book inThe Order
of TheNines
series. Taris, the hero of book
one and
legendary life-­‐saver,
agreed to grab a cup
of coffee with me to chat about
life, love
and ultimately what it is
that makes him tick.

Thanks for
carving out some time for me today,guy.

Legendary life-­‐saver?

Well,
it’s true, isn’tit?

I wouldn’t
say legendary though. That’s a bitlofty.

I
didn’t realize modesty was your strongsuit.

I didn’t
realize over-­‐exaggeration was yours.
I’mawriter, Taris.
Let’s get
with the
program,
here.

*Taris gives
me a wink as he takes
a sip
of his
coffee
and I’mimmediately thankful that we are both in long-­‐term, committed
relationships. Gah, those eyes.*

So, questions. You wanna get toit?

Yes.

Fireaway.

So,
tell us a little bit about yourstory.

…but you
know the story. You wroteit.

But the
readers might not yet. Geez, guy. Help me out here. I’m trying to getmore ladies
to loveyou.

I already have a beautiful lady, thankyou.

*He smiles again
and there’s a brief glint of fang that peeks out. Melt.Like. Buttah.*

Because I
love you,
I will cooperate.
Um,
I’m801 years
old. Had a birthday
recently. That makes metheoldest living
vampire. Let’s
see. We were basically dying out until I
sawa TV interviewof my lovely wife-­‐to-­‐be
where she said
she developed
an anti-­‐rejection
thing that
would prevent
donor patients fromrejecting organs.
That it
happened to work for
vampires
was a bonus.
We got
together, some sparks flew, some lives
were lost.
There’s the story.

*I’m doing my
best not to snort out coffee at this point. He’s sononchalant about the
whole thing. The second I manage to swallow, his handslides across the table
and coversmine*

How are you doing, by the way? Things okaynow?

*I can’t answer
him because there is a sudden flood of unshedtears choking in my throat. I
know he’s talking about all of the years thathe watched over me when I was
fighting my own monster. I simplynod.*

Good. You know I can’t leave youbehind.

*It’s this
constant protector side of Taris that makes me love him,even fifteen years
after I first met him. I regain my composure and moveonto the nextquestion*

Tell me a
little bit aboutSarah.

*He
smiles
again and
those
gorgeous amber-­‐colored eyes
of his
seemto light up. Hebrushes a
long
lock of
hair out
of his
face*

She’s magic—everything about her. Just…I
thought I’d seen all ofthe amazing things that this world had to offer until
I met her. I thought Iknew what completion was but she sasses her way
in and BOOM. Everythingfalls apart and rebuilds itself bigger and better.
I can feel her runningthrough my veins every minute of every day and it’s
amazing. You know, howyou

feel
when something bad is happening and you wish with all of yourheart that
someone or something would come along so that you can grabahold and
anchoryourself?

I may know
a bit what that feels like,yeah.

That’s how I feel when I think about her. I was
so bad off that I didn’tknow how to save myself but after she showed up,
I felt like I could doanything because I knew she had myback.

*He stops
talking and squeezes my hand. It finally dawns on him that yes,I do
know what that feels like because Taris was that anchor forme.*

She’s
my…me, Iguess.

That
doesn’t make anysense.

It
does toyou.

This interview is veryconfusing.

But it’s honest, and that’s what readers want,
isn’t it? An honest story,no matter how fantastical it mayseem.

*I clear mythroat*

So what
is next for the two of you or for The Nines ingeneral?

I’d hate to say you have to read it, but
that’s the only way I can doit without spoilers. I will tell you that there
will be a weddingsoon.

Yours?

Nottelling.

Why are
you socomplicated?

*He leans
forward, his dark hair falling into his face and throughthe curtain, he gives
me a devilishgrin*

Because you
made me thisway…

About the
Author:

A.D. Marrow is a registered
Sapiophile, a proud geek since before geek was chic, and believes that everyone
deserves a happily ever after.

She lives in the foothills of
North Carolina with her ridiculously hot and amazingly supportive husband,
three kids that rock so hard there should be a national holiday for their
awesomeness, two really stupid dogs and a plethora of Post-it notes with book
ideas to last her until she’s 90.

Her childhood dream is realized
in the fact that YOU have cause to read her bio. She hopes that one day, it
lends her enough credibility to live out her second dream, which is to write an
episode of Doctor Who.

Her personal mantra echoes that
of Morticia Addams: “Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is
chaos for the fly.”